MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS PROFESSIONS
Program in Educational Theatre
Forum on Theatre for
Public Health
April 21-23, 2011
Frederick Loewe Theatre, Education Building
35 W. 4th Street, New York, NY, 10012
Pless Hall
82 Washington Square East, New York, NY, 10003
www.steinhardt.nyu.edu/music/edtheatre | [email protected] | 212-9985868
Forum on
Theatre for Public Health
April 21-23, 2011
New York University
The Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development
Music and Performing Arts Professions
Program in Educational Theatre
Forum Planning Committee
Nan Smithner, Chair
Amy Cordelione
Teresa Fisher
Sara Simons
Robert Stevenson
**Cover photo by Chianan Yen from the Educational Theatre production, (m)body: Provocative Acts, director N. Smithner
1
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The faculty of the NYU Steinhardt Program in Educational Theatre would graciously like to thank those
many individuals who helped to make this weekend possible. We owe a great debt to the Steinhardt
Dean‗s group, especially Mary Brabeck, Beth Weitzman, Perry Halkitis and Lindsay Wright, who have
continually supported the program‗s ongoing artistic praxis in a range of settings -- in schools, the wider
community, and in our global initiatives. Likewise, we would like to thank Lawrence Ferrara and Robert
Rowe for their assistance and counsel in bringing this international event to life. Commendations to
William Naugle, Vladimir Golovanevskiy, Katie Parker, Mary Beth Fenlaw, Aaron Cedolia, Randy
Susevich, Naomi Tarantal, and especially Educational Theatre‗s administrative aide, Rochelle Brown,
for helping make this conference come together so smoothly. We are grateful to Erich Dietrich,
Assistant Dean for Global Programs, as well as Jenny Auerbach and Allison Yglesias from the Global
office, for their enduring guidance and support. We also acknowledge the Office for Alumni Relations
and Natalie Pascarella, who provided invaluable outreach to our alumni. Special thanks to Professor
Sally Guttmacher in the Steinhardt Program in Public Health, who supported our endeavors
wholeheartedly.
Further acknowledgements are extended to all of our volunteers, the NYU students who bring an
enthusiasm and energy to the work that is infectious. An extra special thanks to the members of the
Forum committee -- Teresa Fisher, Sara Simons, Robert Stevenson —for their extraordinary dedication
through out the entire academic year of 2010 -11 to bringing this event to fruition, and to Amy
Cordileone, who brings her incredible expertise to the organization of this event this year. This was an
outstanding team effort. Finally, we wouldn‗t be able to host this Forum without the participation
of our guests. We thank all those presenters and attendees for committing to this conversation on
Theatre for Public Health. We hope all of our efforts will ultimately strengthen the field to which we are
all so passionate about. We are most appreciative you have made the time to join us.
NYU Steinhardt Program in Educational Theatre full-time faculty:
Philip Taylor, Program Director
Nancy Smithner, Forum Chair
Joe Salvatore
David Montgomery
2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1.
WELCOME
4
2.
SCHEDULE OF EVENTS
6
3.
ALL CONFERENCE EVENTS
12
4.
PRESENTATION DESCRIPTIONS
20
5.
2012 CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENT
34
6.
UPCOMING EVENTS
35
7.
NOTES
36
8.
MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS PROFESSIONS
40
3
4
5
Thursday April 21, 2011
Where: The Education Building, 35 West 4th Street, New York, NY 10012
6:00pm: Forum Registration / Reception / Social Hour: Frederick Loewe Theatre, Lobby
7:00pm: Welcome: Frederick Loewe Theatre
 Perry Halkitis, Professor of Applied Psychology & Public Health/Associate Dean for Research and Doctoral
Studies
 Robert Rowe, Vice Chair of the NYU Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions
 Nan Smithner, Chair of the Forum on Theatre for Public Health
7:15pm-8:45pm: Opening Remarks and Roundtable: What Is Theatre for Public Health: Who Are the Practitioners and
What Are Their Responsibilities?: Frederick Loewe Theatre
 Frieda de Lackner, Robert Landy, Michael Christensen, Carmen Kelly
o Moderated by Dr. Ross Prior
9:00-10:00pm: Performances: Frederick Loewe Theatre
 An excerpt from If You Only Knew, an original work created by the students of Brooklyn School of Music and
Theatre for the Theater for Social Change/Social Justice Project, directed by Stacey Cervillino
 Excerpts from Positive, a Jamaican play about HIV/AIDS, directed by Karl O‘Brian Williams
o Moderated by Joe Salvatore
Friday April 22, 2011
Where: The Education Building, 35 West 4th Street, New York, NY 10012 or
Pless Hall, 82 Washington Square East, New York, NY 10003
MORNING FREE TO EXPLORE NYC ON YOUR OWN
Noon: Forum Registration: 3rd floor Lounge, Pless Hall
1:00pm-2:30pm: Plenary Session: Clowning in Hospital Settings, Pless Hall, 3rd Floor Lounge
 Michael Christensen and Betty Leef
o Moderated by Nan Smithner
2:45-4:15pm: Presentations: Concurrent Session 1
 Workshop Presentation: Pless Hall, 3rd Floor Lounge
o Express Stop: From the Poem to the Play
 Sherry Reiter
 Paper Presentation: Pless Hall, Payne Room, 4th floor
o Puppetry Arts in HIV/AIDS Education: The Guyana Project
 Grace Chapman
o Using Puppets as an Educational Theatre Medium and for Children’s Self-Reports of their Temperament
 Claire Hatamiya
o The Puppetry Project: An Investigation into the Psychological Properties of Puppetry as They Pertain to
Healing
 Leslie Strongwater
 Narrative presentation: Pless Hall, 5th Floor Conference Room
o From Global to Local: Theater, Public Health, and Community
 Dorothy Abram
4:30pm-5:30pm: Plenary Session: Performance Ethnography and Autoethnographic Performance: Pless Hall, 3rd floor
 Maria Hodermarska, Sara McMullian, Dave Mowers, and David Perrin
o Moderated by Leslie Strongwater
5:00pm: Forum Registration re-opens: Ed Building, Frederick Loewe Theatre, Lobby
5:30pm-6:30pm: DINNER ON YOUR OWN
6
6:30pm-8:00pm: Plenary: Frederick Loewe Theatre
 Presenter Larry Kramer
o Introduced by Perry Halkitis
8:15pm-9:45pm: Performances: Frederick Loewe Theatre
 Teatro Salud Able with Frances Hernandez-Rodriguez, Lisa M. Milland Torres, Teatro Salud Able
 Little Red Riding Hood for Hospitalized Children and At-Risk Youth with Jakob Abrams, Tatjana Maya, Tricia
Patrick, and Isabel Shanahan of Galli Theatre
o Moderated by David Montgomery
Saturday April 23, 2011
Where: The Education Building, 35 West 4th Street, New York, NY 10012
8:30am: Forum Registration and Coffee/Continental Breakfast: Frederick Loewe Theatre, Lobby
9:00am-10:30am: Presentations: Concurrent Session 2
 Workshop Presentation: Frederick Loewe Theatre
o Doc Meets “Junkie”– Explorations with Forum Theatre of Health Care Meeting Stigmatized Patients
 Mette Bøe Lyngstad and Dr Janecke Thesen
 Workshop Presentation: Education 303
o Finding Beauty in the Beast: Using Drama to Understand Personal Hygiene and Environmental Factors that
Promote Health During Outbreaks of Airborne and Vector Borne Diseases
 Reema Sinha
 Narrative Presentations: Education 306
o How Kaiser Permanente Hospitals Has Used the Power of Educational Theatre to Address Public Health
Issues and Inspire Healthy Behaviors in Communities for the Last 25 Years
 Frieda de Lackener, Kaiser Permanente
o L’tle Grain and the Sea Bully, an Anti-Bullying Campaign Using Puppetry
 Maya Nadison
 Narrative Presentations: Education 307
o Performing Environmental Health & Justice: A “Tox & Risk” Curriculum Based on Theatre of the Oppressed,
Sociodrama, & Playback Techniques
 John Sullivan
o Exploring the Relationship between Drama Therapy and Educational Theatre
 Julia Ashworth and Jason Butler
 Workshop Presentation: Education 879
o Get Real: The Use of Drama in a Comprehensive Sexuality Education Curriculum
 Shira Cahn-Lipman
10:45am-12:00pm: Plenary: HIV Panel: Frederick Loewe Theatre
 Nikkole Salter, Karl O’Brian Williams, Joe Norton, and Sima Barmania
o Moderated by Sally Guttmacher
12:00pm-1:15pm: NETWORKING and LUNCH ON YOUR OWN
 To join the NETWORKING, sign up on the clipboards in the lobby (we provide the rooms, you provide your
lunch)
1:30pm-3:00pm: Presentations: Concurrent Session 3
 Workshop Presentation: Frederick Loewe Theatre
o Using Improv to Develop Communication & Collaboration Skills among Healthcare Professionals
 Beth Boynton
 Workshop Presentation: Education 303
o Stepping Up: A Process Drama Exploring Shared Partner Responsibility for Condom Use
 Sara Simons
 Paper Presentations: Education 306
7
o


Theatrical Storytelling: Culturally Relevant Health Promotion to Decrease Health Disparities in Organ
Transplants within Native American Nations
 Satara Armstrong
o Community Theater to Improve Diabetes Education in the South Pacific
 Philip Szmedra
o Using Theater to Educate Audiences Regarding Female Genital Mutilation
 Diana Thompson
Workshop Presentation: Education 307
o Rehab, Roles, and Reality
 Andrew Gaines and Darby Moore
Workshop Presentation: Education 879
o Improbable Players: Using Educational Drama in Addictions Prevention
 Lynn Bratley
3:15pm-4:45pm: Presentations: Concurrent Session 4
 Performance Presentations: Frederick Loewe Theatre
o Strange Bare Facts
 Kate Mulley
o Ableism
 Maria Schirmer and Koby Rogers Hall
 Workshop Presentation: Education 303
o Step Onto the Educational Stage
 Elizabeth Ameln and Roy Ford
 Paper Presentations: Education 306
o Taking Dramatic License: A Theatrical Approach to Enhancing Cultural Competence in Health Professions
 Maureen Barry
o Performing Health in a Canadian Context
 Hartley Jafine
o Every Body has a Story: How Fat is Experienced by Women Exploring their Body Narratives through Theatre
for Change
 Teresa Fisher
 Narrative Presentations: Education 307
o Storytelling, Drama, and Mindfulness in Psychosocial Interventions for Children and Guardians affected by
HIV/AIDS
 Clowns without Borders South Africa, Jamie McLaren Lachman
o HIV, AIDs, ME, and YOU!
 Daphnie Sicre and Karl O’Brian Williams
 Workshop Presentation: Education 879
o Beyond the Role Play: Incorporating Theatre Techniques into Sexual Health Education
 Kate Wand
4:45pm-5:30pm: Closing Remarks: Frederick Loewe Theatre
 Moderated by Nan Smithner
5:30pm-6:30pm: Final Social Gathering: Frederick Loewe Theatre Lobby
8
Forum on Theatre for Public Health
Thursday, April 21st
Frederick Loewe Theatre
35 West 4th Street, New York, NY 10012
6:00pm7:00pm
Forum Registration / Reception / Social Hour
7:00pm
9:00pm10:00pm
Opening Remarks and Roundtable
What is Theatre for Public Health?: Who Are the Practitioners and What Are Their
Responsibilities?
Frieda de Lackner, Robert Landy, Michael Christensen, and Carmen Kelly
Moderator: Ross Prior
Performances
If You Only Knew
Stacey Cervillino and her students from Brooklyn School of Music and Theatre
Positive
Karl O‘Brian Williams and his actors
Moderator: Joe Salvatore
Forum on Theatre for Public Health
Friday, April 22nd
Morning
Breakfast and Lunch on Your Own & Morning Free to Enjoy NYC
Pless Hall 3rd floor lounge
82 Washington Square East, New York, NY 10003
Noon-1:00pm
Forum Registration
Plenary Session
Clowning in Hospital Settings
Michael Christensen and Betty Leef
Moderator: Nan Smithner
1:00pm2:30pm
Presentations: Concurrent Session #1
2:45am4:15pm
Pless Hall
82 Washington Square East, New York, NY 10003
Group A
Group B
Group C
3rd floor Lounge
Payne Room, 4th floor
5th floor Conference Room
Workshop
Paper Presentations
Narratives
Express Stop: From the Poem to the
Play
Sherry Reiter
Puppetry Arts in HIV/AIDS
Education: The Guyana Project
Grace Chapman
From Global to Local: Theater, Public
Health, and Community
Dorothy Abram
Using Puppets as an Educational
Theatre Medium…
Claire Hatamiya
The Puppetry Project: An
Investigation into…
Leslie Strongwater
9
Pless Hall 3rd floor lounge
82 Washington Square East, New York, NY 10003
4:30pm5:30pm
Plenary Session
Performance Ethnography and Autoethnographic Performance
Maria Hodermarska, Sara McMullian, Dave Mowers, David Perrin
Moderator: Leslie Strongwater
DINNER ON YOUR OWN
5:30pm6:30pm
Frederick Loewe Theatre
35 W. 4th Street, New York, NY 10012
6:30pm8:00pm
8:15pm9:45pm
Keynote Speaker
Larry Kramer
Introduced by: Perry Halkitis
Performances
Teatro Salud Able
Frances Hernandez-Rodriguez, Lisa M. Milland Torres, and Teatro Salud Able
Little Red Riding Hood for Hospitalized Children and At-Risk Youth
Jakob Abrams, Tatjana Maya, Tricia Patrick, and Isabel Shanahan of Galli Theatre
Moderator: David Montgomery
Forum on Theatre for Public Health
Saturday, April 23rd
Frederick Loewe Theatre
35 West 4th Street, New York, NY 10012
8:30am9:00am
Forum Registration / Coffee and Continental Breakfast
Presentations: Concurrent Session #2
9:00am10:30am
Education Building
35 West 4th Street, New York, NY 10012
Group B
Group C
Group D
ED 303
ED 306
ED 307
Group A
Loewe
Workshop
Workshop
Narratives
Narratives
Workshop
Doctor Meets “Junkie”
Lyngstad & Thesen
Finding Beauty in the
Beast…
Reema Sinha
How Kaiser
Permanente Have…
Frieda de Lackner
Performing
Environmental Health
& Justice…
John Sullivan
Get Real: The Use of
Drama in…
Shira Cahn-Lipman
L’tle Grain and the
SeaBully…
Maya Nadison
10:45am12:00pm
12:00pm1:15pm
Group E
ED 879
Exploring the
Relationship…
Ashworth & Butler
Frederick Loewe Theatre
35 West 4th Street, New York, NY 10012
Plenary
HIV Panel
Nikkole Salter, Karl O‘Brian Williams, Joe Norton, and Sima Barmania
Moderator: Sally Guttmacher
Networking /Lunch on Your Own
10
Presentations: Concurrent Session #3
1:30pm3:00pm
Group A
Loewe
Education Building
35 West 4th Street, New York, NY 10012
Group B
Group C
Group D
ED 303
ED 306
ED 307
Group E
ED 879
Workshop
Workshop
Papers
Workshop
Workshop
Using Improv to
Develop…
Beth Boynton
Stepping Up: A
Process Drama…
Sara Simons
Theatrical
Storytelling…
Satara Armstrong
Rehab, Roles, and
Reality
Gaines & Moore
Improbable Players
Lynn Bratley
Community Theatre
to Improve…
Philip Szmedra
Using Theatre to
Educate Audiences…
Diana Thompson
Presentations: Concurrent Session #4
3:15pm4:45pm
Group A
Loewe
Education Building
35 West 4th Street, New York, NY 10012
Group B
Group C
Group D
ED 303
ED 306
ED 307
Performance
Workshop
Papers
Narratives
Workshop
Strange Bare Facts
Kate Mulley
Step Onto the
Educational Stage
Ameln & Ford
Taking Dramatic
License…
Maureen Barry
Storytelling, Drama,
and Mindfulness…
Clowns without Borders
South Africa, Lachman
Beyond the Role
Play…
Kate Wand
Ableism
Schirmer & Hall
Performing Health
in a Canadian…
Hartley Jafine
HIV, AIDs, ME, and
YOU!
Sicre & Williams
Every Body has a
Story…
Teresa Fisher
4:45pm5:30pm
5:30pm6:30pm
Group E
ED 879
Frederick Loewe Theatre
35 W. 4th Street, New York, NY 10012
Closing Remarks
Moderator: Nan Smithner
Frederick Loewe Theatre Lobby
35 W. 4th Street, New York, NY 10012
Final Social Gathering
11
ALL CONFERENCE EVENTS
Thursday April 21, 2011
6:00pm-7:00pm: Registration / Social Hour
Location: Frederick Loewe Theatre Lobby, 35 West 4th Street, NY, NY 10012
7:00pm: Welcome
Location: Frederick Loewe Theatre, 35 West 4th Street, NY, NY 10012
7:15pm: Opening Remarks and Roundtable
What Is Theatre for Public Health: Who Are the Practitioners and What Are Their
Responsibilities? with Frieda de Lackner, Robert Landy, Michael Christensen, and Carmen Kelly
Moderated by Ross Prior
Location: Frederick Loewe Theatre, 35 West 4th Street, NY, NY 10012
Frieda de Lackner is the Program Coordinator/Director of Peace Signs Program and has
worked with Educational Theatre Programs for nine years as a performer/educator and director.
She has performed in four of the plays, directed two of the plays, and was part of the teams that
created Peace Signs and The Best Me.
Robert Landy is a Licensed Creative Arts Therapist (LCAT), a Registered Drama Therapist
(RDT) and Board Certified Trainer (BCT). A pioneer in the profession of Drama Therapy, he
lectures and trains professionals internationally. At NYU, Robert is Professor of Educational
Theatre and Applied Psychology and Director of the Drama Therapy Program, which he
founded in 1984. As researcher and writer, Robert has published and produced numerous
books, articles, films and plays in the fields of Drama, Drama Therapy, Musical Theatre and
related topics. His forthcoming book (with David Montgomery), Theatre for Change:
Education, Social Action, Therapy, examines the relationship between Drama Therapy and
applied forms of theatre.
For 45 years, Michael Christensen has been a performing artist, lecturer, workshop leader and
innovator in integrating humor into healthcare, most notably pediatric hospitals worldwide. In
1977, he co-founded Big Apple Circus. In 1986, he founded Big Apple Circus Clown Care. Guest
lecturer, University of Tel Aviv, Italian Federation of Hospital Clowning, Scandinavian Humor
Conference, grand rounds, Children's Hospital Boston, Children's National Medical Center,
designated NY Living Landmark, recipient, Raoul Wallenberg Humanitarian Award, Ambassador
David Waters Pediatric Hall of Fame inductee, Red Skelton Community Service Award, Parenting
Achievement Award. His most cherished credits are appearing in children‘s Weekly Reader and
Sesame Street!
Photo: Maike Schulz/Big Apple Circus
12
Carmen Kelly is Director of Special Programs at Creative Arts Team (CAT). She spearheads
Project CHANGE, CAT‘s unique initiative to develop CUNY student advocates for adolescent
health in Brooklyn and Queens. She has developed and led professional training initiative for
students at NYU School of Law, a multi-year afterschool antiviolence program in NYC public
schools, workplace readiness learning opportunities for young people with special needs, and a
young women‘s peer leadership program at Preston High School in the Bronx. Ms. Kelly has
presented and led professional development programs at national and international conferences.
Ms. Kelly has worked extensively in professional theatre, film and television and was a founding
member of Walter Dallas‘s Proposition Theater Company.
Ross Prior is the founding editor of the international Journal of Applied Arts and Health. He is
a principal lecturer at The University of Northampton, United Kingdom, where he is also the
widening participation and external relations co-ordinator for the School of The Arts. He has
held a range of posts both within the profession and education, having taught at all levels of
education for many years. In 2007 he was awarded the distinguished ‗Teaching Fellow of The
University‘ for excellence in teaching. Dr Prior was a key figure in the establishment of the
first Arts and Health conference at The University of Northampton in 2007 and Inspiring
Transformations: Applied Arts and Health Conference in 2009. He has been closely involved
with the Drama in Education and Applied Theatre movements for much of his life, as a
researcher, teacher and practitioner.
9:00-10:00pm: Performances
An excerpt from If You Only Knew, an original work created for the school’s Theater for Social
Change/Social Justice Project
Excerpts from Positive, a Jamaican play about HIV/AIDS written by Trevor Rhone, directed by
Karl O’Brian Williams, and produced by Braata Productions
Moderated by Joe Salvatore
Location: Frederick Loewe Theatre, 35 West 4th Street, NY, NY 10012
Stacey Cervellino is an actor, singer, writer, and director. She has performed in New York and
Boston in plays and musicals, and has written and directed her own piece called DRESS about
the housewife of the 1950's, produced both in New York and Boston. She is a teaching artist in
the NYC Public School system where she teaches Shakespeare, Improvisational Movement, and
basic acting. She has taught Movement workshops at Brooklyn College and at the Calhoun
School. Stacey recently directed Macbeth in Vermont, several movement-based pieces for the
New Jersey Youth Theater, and taught an Action Theater Workshop at the International Theater
Methods Festival in Latvia. She is a graduate of the Brandeis University MFA acting program
and has studied at LAMDA in London.
Karl O’Brian Williams holds a Masters from the Program in Educational Theatre at NYU. His
acting career has taken him from the Caribbean to New York, Toronto and London. As a
playwright, he won Best New Jamaican Play for The Black That I Am and Not About Eve. He
directed productions spanning both community and commercial theatre. He is the Artistic Director
of Braata Productions which aims to spread Caribbean culture and promote social consciousness
through all forms of art. Williams is currently an adjunct professor in the speech and theatre
department at the Borough of Manhattan Community College (CUNY) and a Site Director at
Wingspan Arts where he coordinates an after school arts program for children kindergarten
through grade 5. Williams continues to pursue artistic projects that interrogates socio-political
issues, and has received numerous accolades, nominations and awards for his work in the arts and
education.
13
Joe Salvatore is a member of the full-time faculty in Educational Theatre in the Steinhardt School
at NYU where he teaches courses in acting, directing, Shakespeare, applied theatre, and theatre
pedagogy. Joe‘s recent play open heart was featured as part of the New York International Fringe
Festival (August 2010). His play III was published in Best American Short Plays 2008-2009
(Applause, 2010). Joe also serves as the Artistic/Education Director for Learning Stages, a
celebrated youth theatre company in southern New Jersey. He is active in the American
Educational Research Association, the Educational Theatre Association, the American Alliance
for Theatre and Education, and the Lincoln Center Directors Lab. Joe holds a BA in History from
the University of Delaware and an MFA in Theatre (Dramaturgy and Directing) from the
University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
Friday April 22, 2011
Noon-1:00pm: Registration
Location: Pless Hall, 3rd floor Lounge, 82 Washington Square East, NY, NY 10003
1:00pm-2:30pm: Plenary Session
Clowning in Hospital Settings with Michael Christensen and Betty Leef
Moderated by Nan Smithner
Location: Pless Hall, 3rd floor Lounge, 82 Washington Square East, NY, NY 10003
For 45 years, Michael Christensen has been a performing artist, lecturer, workshop leader and
innovator in integrating humor into healthcare, most notably pediatric hospitals worldwide. In
1977, he co-founded Big Apple Circus. In 1986, he founded Big Apple Circus Clown Care. Guest
lecturer, University of Tel Aviv, Italian Federation of Hospital Clowning, Scandinavian Humor
Conference, grand rounds, Children's Hospital Boston, Children's National Medical Center,
designated NY Living Landmark, recipient, Raoul Wallenberg Humanitarian Award, Ambassador
David Waters Pediatric Hall of Fame inductee, Red Skelton Community Service Award, Parenting
Achievement Award. His most cherished credits are appearing in children‘s Weekly Reader and
Sesame Street!
Photo: Maike Schulz/Big Apple Circus
Betty Leef is an adjunct faculty in the School of Nursing at both University of Connecticut
and Central Connecticut State University teaching pediatrics. She formerly taught at NYU‘s
College of Nursing. Throughout her time teaching at the university level, Betty has had a
passion for educating students in the fine art of therapeutic communications with both
children and their families. To that end, she enjoyed collaborating with the Big Apple
Circus and helped to develop a workshop for undergraduate students to fine tune interaction
skills. She has been featured on NBC Nightly News for the innovative project and in The
New York Times. Betty‘s manuscript detailing the workshop is pending publication.
Nancy Smithner, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in Educational Theatre at NYU where she
teaches Physical Theatre, Acting, Directing and Pedagogy. She has taught at many other venues
such as Playwrights Horizons, Circle in the Square Theatre School, Movement Research, the NY
Dance Intensive, the Berkshire Theatre Festival, and Soongsil University in Seoul, Korea. For the
Program, directing highlights include Sonia Flew (Lopez), A Midsummer Night‘s Dream
(Shakespeare), The Eumenides (Aeschylus), Mad Forest (Churchill), (m)BODY (devised work),
and Voices of Women (original works). An applied theatre practitioner, she teaches in medium
and maximum security prisons and was also a member of the Big Apple Circus Clown Care Unit
for 20 years, performing as a clown doctor for children in pediatric settings.
14
4:30pm-5:30pm: Plenary Session
Performance Ethnography and Autoethnographic Performance with Maria Hodermarska, Sara
McMullian, Dave Mowers, and David Perrin
Moderated by Leslie Strongwater
Location: Pless Hall, 3rd floor Lounge, 82 Washington Square East, NY, NY 10003
Maria Hodermarska, MA, RDT, CASAC, LCAT, is a Licensed Creative Arts Therapist
(LCAT), a Registered Drama Therapist (RDT) and an adjunct clinical assistant professor at NYU
in the Program in Drama Therapy and coordinator of its clinical internship program. She is Ethics
Chair for the National Association for Drama Therapy. Ms. Hodermarska has worked for over 20
years as a drama therapist in community mental health and substance abuse treatment programs
in New York City.
Sara McMullian, MA, RDT, LCAT, is a Licensed Creative Arts Therapist (LCAT), a
Registered Drama Therapist (RDT) and Board Certified Trainer (BCT). Her 30 years of
experience in the clinical arena encompass a full spectrum of treatment environments, and
populations, including hospitals, day treatment programs and clinics, nursing homes, homeless
outreach programs, schools and community settings. She has served in numerous capacities,
including clinical supervisor, trainer, program director, and consultant for various private, city
and state programs.
Dave Mowers, MA, LCAT, is a 2009 graduate of the NYU Program in Drama Therapy. He is
a drama therapist working in acute psychiatric care in New York City with a specialization in
acute psychiatric rehabilitation with pregnant woman who are unable to be medicated due to
their pregnancies.
David Perrin, BA, is a graduate student in the NYU Program in Drama Therapy where he is
currently finishing his clinical internships providing drama therapy for professionals who do
hospice care and providing individual and group drama therapy through the Post-Traumatic
Stress Center of New Haven, CT, with at-risk youth in a public school.
Leslie Strongwater has studied at Circle in the Square, BADA and Hampshire College, where she
received her BA in theatre. She is the Associate Artistic Director of Dixon Place where her series
Puppet Blok won three awards from The Jim Henson Foundation. She has an MA in Educational
Theatre from NYU.
5:00pm-6:30pm: Registration re-opens
Location: Frederick Loewe Theatre Lobby, 35 West 4th Street, NY, NY 10012
5:30pm-6:30pm: DINNER ON YOUR OWN
15
6:30pm-8:00pm: Keynote Session
Larry Kramer
Introduced by Perry Halkitis
Location: Frederick Loewe Theatre, 35 West 4th Street, NY, NY 10012
In 1981, with five friends, Larry Kramer founded Gay Men‘s Health Crisis, still one of the
world‘s largest providers of services to those with AIDS. In 1987, he founded ACT UP, the
AIDS advocacy and protest organization, which has been responsible for the development and
release of almost every life-saving treatment for HIV/AIDS. Among his numerous plays is The
Normal Heart, which was selected as one of the 100 Best Plays of the 20th Century by Britain‘s
National Theatre and is the longest running play in the history of New York‘s Public Theater. A
new production of it is about to open on Broadway on April 27 th. Kramer‘s screenplay
adaptation of D. H. Lawrence‘s Women in Love, a film he also produced, was nominated for an
Academy Award. His novel, Faggots, continues to be one of the best-selling of all gay novels.
He is a recipient of the Award in Literature from the American Academy of Arts and Letters
and was the first openly gay person and the first creative artist to be honored by an award from
Common Cause. His straight brother Arthur‘s establishment of The Larry Kramer Initiative for
Lesbian and Gay Studies at Yale was rewarded by its closure by the University. For many years
he has been writing a very long book about the plague, The American People, which is some
4000 pages and is forthcoming from Farrar Straus & Giroux. His most recent book is The
Tragedy of Today’s Gays (Penguin), which will tell you everything you need to know about
him, about AIDS, and about America. ―There is no question in my mind that Larry helped
change medicine in this country. And he helped change it for the better. In American medicine
there are two eras. Before Larry and after Larry.‖ (Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes
of Health, quoted in The New Yorker, May 13, 2002.) On December 21, 2001, Kramer was the
22nd person co-infected with HIV and hepatitis B to receive a liver transplant, from which he
has miraculously and spectacularly recovered. Kramer lives in New York and Connecticut with
his lover, architect/designer David Webster. ―Larry Kramer is one of America‘s most valuable
troublemakers. I hope he never lowers his voice‖ (Susan Sontag).
For the last decade, the work of Perry Halkitis has centered on improving the human
condition. His research focuses on issues of health, human behavior, and development, with
a specific application to the domains of HIV/AIDS, drug abuse, and psychosocial burdens.
At NYU, Dr. Halkitis heads his research center, the Center for Health, Identity, Behavior, &
Prevention Studies (CHIBPS), and is a Professor of Applied Psychology & Public Health as
well as the Associate Dean for Research and Doctoral Studies.
8:15pm-9:45pm: Performances
Teatro Salud Able with Frances Hernandez-Rodriguez, Lisa M. Milland Torres, Teatro Salud Able;
Little Red Riding Hood for Hospitalized Children and At-Risk Youth with Jakob Abrams, Tatjana
Maya, Tricia Patrick, Isabel Shanahan of Galli Theatre
Moderated by David Montgomery
Location: Frederick Loewe Theatre, 35 West 4th Street, NY, NY 10012
Teatro Salud Able, created by the 2011 graduate group of Clinical Social Work Certificate students at a private university in
Puerto Rico, is based on Augusto Boal‘s Rainbow of Desire. It brings up a diversity of emerging issues surrounding the
practitioner-client relationship in the mental health setting. The piece is presented in a Forum Theater format and gives
psychological symptoms a voice of their own and confronts them with the dysfunctions on the Mental Health System in
Puertorrican Society. It is the result of months of formal and informal encounters of Clinical Social Workers in training. It
entangles personal and professional issues as lived by students while struggling in a twisted professional arena and ultimately
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opens the doors for ―Health to Talk‖ (―Salud Able‖). Delivered in a necessary Span-glish and integrating Caribbean cultural
elements, it is an essay for revolution in Clinical Social Work practice in Puerto Rico.
Frances Hernández-Rodríguez holds a BA in Psychology & MSW. Currently, she is a Licensed
Social Worker and a student of Post Graduate Clinical Social Work Certification in Puerto Rico.
With over 10 years of experience in the field, she has always managed to integrate theater as a
powerful professional tool. She has participated at workshops with masters of the performing arts
such as Julian Boal on Theater of the Oppressed and Alex Navarro & Carolina Dream on Clowning.
Dra. Lis M. Milland Torres, D Ed, HTC, MSW, has been a psychotherapist for the past
10 years, and has integrated into her practice alternative therapies such as Tai-Chi,
Bibliotherapy, Hypnosis and Psychoballet. Currently, she is a Professor at Post Graduate
Clinical Social Work Certificate in Puerto Rico and has traveled worldwide on an effort to
access quality training in alternative therapies for adults and couples.
Little Red Riding Hood for Hospitalized Children and At-Risk Youth: Galli Theater‘s Dr. Fairytale program brings
adaptations of traditional fairytales to hospitalized children and at-risk youth, highlighting the educational and healing value
of these stories. Galli‘s Little Red Riding Hood is a highly effective play for these audiences. Children forge deep
connections with Little Red as they watch her descend into darkness and then later as she regains hope. Galli will play two
scenes from Little Red geared for each audience. In hospitals, children have physically defended Little Red from the wolf,
whose darkness may represent their own illness. In youth audiences, the wolf is booed for tempting Little Red with illicit
substances, as they beg Little Red to make the right decision. By experiencing emotions and decisions through fictional
characters, participants can connect themes to their own lives becoming more prepared to battle their adversaries with hope,
caution, and family values.
Jakob Abrams is a graduate of the New York Film Academy and an acting member of
the Galli Theater since August 2010. In addition to acting and teaching with Galli, Jakob
is an independent filmmaker and director.
Tatjana Maya, MD, graduated from the University of Innsbruck, Austria, specializing in child
psychiatry. She founded Galli Theater New York in 2008. Tatjana received a Youth Achievement
Award for her work with street youth in Mexico City, and the ―Best Practice Award‖ by the
European Commission for her work with at-risk youth.
Tricia Patrick is a Jamaican born actress, dance choreographer and director, and a graduate in
theater from Hunter College. She is an international performer of fairy tales, evening theater, and
business theater productions. She performs in both German and English in the United States,
Germany, Austria, Ireland and Scotland.
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Isabel Shanahan is an actress and the Program Manager for Educational and Special Programming at
the Galli Theater. She has expanded the Dr. Fairytale program to include special needs children and
victims of child abuse. She is a graduate of Hampshire College, where she concentrated in community
organizing and environmental justice.
David Montgomery, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Educational Theatre at NYU, is a specialist in
drama education, theatre for young audiences, student teaching, and integrated arts. As an actor
and singer, David performed in numerous professional venues before working as a K-12 teaching
artist in NYC and full time middle school drama teacher in Brooklyn. His forthcoming book (with
Robert Landy), Theatre for Change: Education, Social Action, Therapy, examines the relationship
between drama therapy and applied forms of theatre. David is the Artistic Director of New Plays
for Young Audiences, a play development series held at the Provincetown Playhouse each June.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
8:30am-9:00am: Registration and Coffee/Continental Breakfast
Location: Frederick Loewe Theatre Lobby, 35 West 4th Street, NY, NY 10012
10:45am-12:00pm: Plenary
HIV Panel with Nikkole Salter, Karl O‘Brian Williams, Joe Norton, and Sima Barmania
Moderated by Sally Guttmacher
Location: Frederick Loewe Theatre, 35 West 4th Street, NY, NY 10012
Nikkole Salter is an OBIE Award-winning actress and writer who co-authored and coperformed In the Continuum. The play and her performance received many accolades
including the NY Outer Critics Circle‘s John Gassner Award for Best New American Play
in 2006. In addition to her acting/writing career, Ms. Salter‘s deep sense of social
responsibility led her to found and serve as Executive Director of The Continuum Project,
Inc, a non-profit organization that creates innovative artistic programming for community
empowerment and enrichment.
Joe Norton has been an actor, playwright and producer, and is currently the Director of
Education & Outreach for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Joe served on the
governing board of the Educational Theatre Association and now sits on the NY Chapter
Board and on the advisory board for the Northeast Thespian Festival (Hall of Fame
recipient, 2009), and attends many chapter festivals as a guest artist and adjudicator. He
is also on the advisory board for R‘Evolucion Latina. Joe is a member of EdTA,
NYSTEA, AACT, TCG and the Dramatists Guild. His play, School Night, is published
through Playscripts, Inc.
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Karl O’Brian Williams holds a Masters from the Program in Educational Theatre at NYU. His
acting career has taken him from the Caribbean to New York, Toronto and London. As a
playwright, he won Best New Jamaican Play for The Black That I Am and Not About Eve. He
directed productions spanning both community and commercial theatre. He is the Artistic Director
of Braata Productions which aims to spread Caribbean culture and promote social consciousness
through all forms of art. Williams is currently an adjunct professor in the speech and theatre
department at the Borough of Manhattan Community College (CUNY) and a Site Director at
Wingspan Arts where he coordinates an after school arts program for children kindergarten
through grade 5. Williams continues to pursue artistic projects that interrogates socio-political
issues, and has received numerous accolades, nominations and awards for his work in the arts and
education.
Sima Barmania is a British medical doctor from London with an Intercalated degree in
Community health science and a Master‘s in Public Health from The London School of Hygiene
and Tropical Medicine. She has branched out of clinical medicine to focus on her passion for global
health and is undertaking a Ph.D. Sima is Muslim but vehemently believes in genuine interfaith and
is attempting to launch a peace education initiative for children. She also has an eclectic ancestry,
of Indian origin but with parents originally from South Africa and Mauritius. She also blogs for the
English newspaper, The Independent online and is enjoying writing.
Sally Guttmacher, Ph.D., directs the MPH Program in Community Public Health. Her research
interests include policy and prevention of chronic and infectious diseases; poverty and public
health; women's health and evaluation. Much of her research in the past several years has been in
the Cape Town Metro area of South Africa. Dr. Guttmacher is currently involved in two research
projects in South Africa. One is on the integration of TB and HIV clinics in the Cape Town Metro
area. The second is examining the health and educational risk faced by the youth from Zimbabwe
who are currently refugees in South Africa. Dr. Guttmacher is also involved in the evaluation of a
training program for NPs in Title 10 clinics. She has just published a book, Community Based
Health Interventions with Pat Kelly and Yumary Ruiz. Dr. Guttmacher is a member of the Board
of Public Health Examiners, NAF, and the Immediate Past President of the Council on Public
Health Programs.
4:45pm-5:30pm: Closing Remarks
Location: Frederick Loewe Theatre, 35 West 4th Street, NY, NY 10012
5:30pm-6:30pm: Final Social Gathering
Location: Frederick Loewe Theatre Lobby, 35 West 4th Street, NY, NY 10012
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PRESENTATION DESCRIPTIONS
Friday April 22, 2011
SESSION 1: 2:45pm-4:15pm
Workshop Presentation
Group A – Pless Hall, 3rd floor Lounge
Workshop
Title: Express Stop: From the Poem to the Play
Since drama is conflict, and poetry is large enough to contain paradox, both arts lend themselves well to subjects
that are difficult but present in our society: marital discord and domestic violence, depression, indifference,
alienation, mental distress and stress are current themes. Through the application of literature within a playful,
creative context, drama becomes a powerful agent for the release and containment of emotion, problem-solving,
values development, and greater insight regarding behavior and consequences. For persons in therapy or
rehabilitation, ―rehearsals for living‖ may play an important role in learning to extend one‘s emotional range,
experimenting with new roles, and enhancing communication skills and social interaction. In The Express Stop,
experience how oral interpretation, one-liners, poems, theatre games and improvisation become tools for wellness.
Sherry Reiter, Ph.D., LCSW, is a Registered Drama Therapist/Board Certified Trainer, and Registered
PoetryTherapist/Mentor Supervisor. She is author of Writing Away the Demons: Stories of Creative Coping
Through Transformative Writing (North Star Press, 2009), Director of The Creative Righting Center, and teaches
Therapeutic Applications of Drama at Hofstra University.
Friday April 22, 2011
SESSION 1: 2:45pm-4:15pm
Paper Presentation
Group B – Pless Hall, Payne Room, 4th floor
Papers
Title: Puppetry Arts in HIV/AIDS Education: The Guyana Project
Guyana is a developing country in South America with one of the highest HIV/AIDS infection rates in the region.
A diverse set of educational initiatives in that country has been credited with reducing, for the first time, the
number of new HIV/AIDS cases in Guyana (2009). Among the most effective have been those programs using
Theatre Arts techniques to educate, raise awareness and change misconceptions about HIV/AIDS. This paper will
focus on one of these programs, a pilot Theatre Arts workshop titled Understanding HIV/AIDS through
Educational Puppetry which was designed and facilitated by the author at The Linden Care Foundation, a NGO
working with affected children and families, during 2007-2008. Conceptual fundamentals, the workshop's
structure, mass media linkages, and other factors contributing to the success and sustainability of the program are
analyzed in this paper. The broader applications and potential of puppetry arts/media in public health education
are also examined herein.
Grace Chapman is a Guyanese playwright and Arts-in-Education specialist. She has conducted theatre arts
programs for ―special needs/at risk‖ youth at institutions in the USA and several developing countries. Ms.
Chapman graduated with a BFA from Howard University, and an MA from New York University.
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Title: Using Puppets as an Educational Theatre Medium and for Children’s Self-Reports of their
Temperament
INSIGHTS into Children’s Temperament is a 10-week, comprehensive, temperament-based intervention that
focuses on enhancing emotional, social, and behavioral development in children. This session will describe how
temperament-based material used in the sessions for parents and teachers is translated into puppetry for primary
school children. The four puppets represent common typologies that have combinations of salient dimensions of
temperament (McClowry, 2002). Discussion will also cover how the puppets are used to discuss healthy decisionmaking in solving the puppets‘ dilemmas and later the children‘s dilemmas. Finally, the session will end with how
puppets were used as a children‘s self-reporting method.
Claire Hatamiya received her Ph.D. in Educational Theatre at NYU in 2011. Currently, Dr. Hatamiya is a
facilitator at INSIGHTS into Children’s Temperament. She holds two BA degrees from the University of
California at Berkeley, in Ethnic Studies and in Dramatic Arts – Dance and has a Master‘s Degree in Health
Education from the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health.
Title: The Puppetry Project: An Investigation into the Psychological Properties of Puppetry as they Pertain
to Healing
Noting a significant lack of contemporary printed material available in the fields of puppetry and therapy,
Strongwater has begun a series of open-ended interviews with professional puppeteers who employ puppetry
specifically in educational and therapeutic contexts. Her study aims to examine what those diverse experiences
and types of puppet usage are as well as what the potential healing properties within the form could be and how
they can best be unlocked and utilized with special populations. She will present a sampling of her findings,
which include qualitative research, a highlight of the interview results as well as some initial hypotheses about
why puppetry is an ideal form suited for people with special needs regardless of age or disability. Strongwater
hopes that people‘s impressions of puppetry will be re-contextualized, redefined and concretized, and encourage
people to start talking about puppets with the reverence an archeological art form deserves.
Leslie M. Strongwater has studied at Circle in the Square, BADA and Hampshire College, where she received
her BA in theatre. She is the Associate Artistic Director of Dixon Place where her series Puppet Blok won three
awards from The Jim Henson Foundation. She has an MA in Educational Theatre from NYU.
Friday April 22, 2011
SESSION 1: 2:45pm-4:15pm
Narrative Presentations
Group C – Pless Hall, Conference Room, 5th floor
Narrative
Title: From Global to Local: Theater, Public Health, and Community
Public Health is a national responsibility. While world health organizations manage global concerns, theater
demonstrates the power to hold both foci simultaneously in a way that supports our sense of purpose, well-being,
compassion, and community. This narrative presentation examines an innovative theater project with local
populations on global health challenges. By focusing on a global issue, we share local concerns about related
health and well-being, thereby spanning the continuum from global to local. For example, this session explores
the issue of acid attacks against women in south Asia as the theme of a theater performance. This presentation
discusses diverse audience receptions of this drama at at-risk youth schools, community centers, and religious
institutions by local American Hindu, Muslim, and general communities, and its performance in India at a
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university of law. Theater demonstrates the capacity to unite diverse audiences into a shared understanding of
health and well-being.
Dorothy Abram, Ed. D., is a playwright and Associate Professor in the Social Sciences Department at Johnson &
Wales University in Providence, RI. Her plays focus on global issues of human rights and the cultural sources of
strength and survival of our recently-arrived refugee communities to the United States.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
SESSION 2: 9:00am-10:30am
Workshop Presentation
Group A – Frederick Loewe Theatre
Workshop
Title: Doctor Meets “Junkie” - Explorations with Forum Theatre of Health Care Meeting Stigmatized
Patients
This workshop will convey and explore user experiences with out-of-hours (OOH) Primary care services, from
the perspective of people who have substance abuse problems. The majority of the stories tell about intimidations,
humiliations and disempowerment to such an extent that they prevent people from using the services. We will use
methods from ‗Forum Theatre‘ – one of Augusto Boal‘s Theatre of the Oppressed methods. A web-based research
project conducted by The National Centre for Emergency Primary Health Care in Norway (Nklm) has resulted in
stories told by people with substance abuse problems. The stories have been used to construct a Forum Play. In
this method, the spectators are invited into the play as actors. The intention is that acting in different ways can
help people achieve a better (i.e. a more empowering) result of the interaction between the health professional and
the user.
Mette Bøe Lyngstad is Assistant Professor in Drama at Bergen University College. She was on the main
committee for Idea 2001 in Bergen. From 2002-2006 she was one of the leaders in the Norwegian drama
association. She has been doing research in primary schools, and has been teaching Theatre of the Oppressed for
many years.
Janecke Thesen is a Researcher and General Practitioner/Family doctor with training and experience in Theatre
of the Oppressed. She is also a specialist in Family Medicine, and a specialist in Public Health. Her research
interest is in the empowerment/disempowerment opportunities in meetings between people and health
professionals.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
SESSION 2: 9:00am-10:30am
Workshop Presentation
Group B – Education Building 303
Workshop
Title: Finding Beauty in the Beast: Using Drama to Understand Personal Hygiene and Environmental
Factors that Promote Health during Outbreaks of Airborne and Vector Borne Diseases
The Drama session will focus on experientially learning about the efficacy of applied drama structures in raising
awareness about the prevention of airborne and vector-borne diseases. This involves a specific sequencing of
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drama activities such as Improvisation, Forum Theatre, Mime and Movement, and Storytelling. A Case Study will
provide the lens through which participants will examine social and behavioral aspects relating to containment of
outbreaks. Public Health systems in South Asian countries play a critical role in institutionalizing preparedness
and early warning mechanisms during outbreaks of SARS, Dengue, Chikungunya, Malaria, Encephalitis and other
VBD‘s (vector-borne diseases‘).The session will address the urgent need for art and community based initiatives
as part of a broader, multi-sectorial response to interrupt transmission and preempt outbreaks.
Reema Sinha is a Drama Educator with extensive experience in teaching drama to High, Middle and Junior
School students and in conducting applied drama workshops (Interpersonal communication, conflict & disaster
management) for teachers, students and professionals. Apart from a BA degree, she has a Post Graduate Diploma
in Psychological Counseling from the Institute of Health Care, Chennai and a Post Graduate Diploma in
Educational Studies (Drama- in- Education) from Trinity College, Dublin.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
SESSION 2: 9:00am-10:30am
Narrative Presentations
Group C – Education Building 306
Narratives
Title: How Kaiser Permanente Hospitals Have Used the Power of Educational Theatre to Address Public
Health Issues and Inspire Healthy Behaviors in Communities for the Last 25 Years
Celebrating their 25th anniversary of using theatre to teach health information, Kaiser Permanente‘s Educational
Theatre Programs will share their innovative model for inspiring healthy change in schools and communities.
Educational Theatre Programs harnesses the power and influence of the ―rock-star‖ status of performers through
follow-up interactions, activities and resources to deepen the theatrical experience and make students ambassadors
of change. Through narrative and video, the session will cover the multiple programs and plays in the company,
the unique education of the performer/educators, the use of partnerships within the community, the effectiveness
of the model, and the strategy of serving communities of need. Effective tools and methods will be presented
based on current work addressing the topics of bullying, self-esteem, healthy eating, active living, and HIV/STD
awareness and prevention.
Frieda de Lackner is the Program Coordinator/Director of Peace Signs Program and has worked with
Educational Theatre Programs for nine years as a performer/educator and director. She has performed in four of
the plays, directed two of the plays, and was part of the teams that created Peace Signs and The Best Me
programs.
Title: L’tle Grain and the SeaBully, an Anti-Bullying Campaign Using Puppetry
Childhood bullying shatters victims‘ self-esteem, leaves them feeling unprotected and fearful, and has, in some
notorious cases around the nation and worldwide, caused some to retaliate in terrible ways by randomly killing or
attempting to kill fellow classmates. Nadison will discuss her work in the US and Japan creating, performing and
evaluating a public outreach program using puppetry to address childhood bullying. The message communicated
is consistent with guidelines from the US Department of Health and Human Services‘ Stop Bullying Now
campaign, namely that bullying must not be tolerated at school, passive bystanders need to act, and that victims
do have recourse to family and educators. Puppets hold a mirror to society and entice their audience to look
objectively at themselves, but in a manner less embarrassing to the audience as they form a ―buffer‖ between the
puppeteer and the audience. Therefore, puppets can deliver messages in a light-hearted manner without offending
or intimidating the audience.
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Maya Nadison is currently a Ph.D. candidate and an Institute of Education Sciences (IES) fellow at the Johns
Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Department of Mental Health. She is researching the synergy
between mental health, education, and theater performance in order to design, implement, and evaluate
interventions with the potential to produce positive outcomes for students. Her research interest relates to the
design and evaluation of school and community-based mental health interventions focused on the prevention of
risk behaviors across cultures.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
SESSION 2: 9:00am-10:30am
Narrative Presentations
Group D – Education Building 307
Narratives
Title: Performing Environmental Health & Justice: A “Tox & Risk” Curriculum Based on Theatre of the
Oppressed, Sociodrama, & Playback Techniques
Community Environmental Forum Theatre (CEFT) creates structures for dialogue and analysis of environmental
health issues and concrete situations. These techniques allow students and adult learners to ―translate‖ abstract
public health or environmental science concepts into embodied forms (images) and short improvised scenarios
(Forums) that demonstrate how environmental factors impact real life and invite suggestions for realistic
solutions. CEFT draws from diverse ―dramatic‖ elements such as Sociodrama, Sociometry, Playback and Augusto
Boal‘s Forum Theatre including:
 Icebreaker / warm-up exercises
 Use of Sociometry to gauge levels of experience, priorities, beliefs
 Creation of images: (a) environmental exposures / health outcomes, (b) exposure pathways, (c)
bioaccumulation / body burdens, (d) risk perceptions / attitudes toward environmental health, (e)
community– wide cumulative.
 Development of improvised scenarios illustrating possible outcomes of environmental exposures &
actions to minimize exposure
 Simulation of effective dialogue to influence policy
John Sullivan provides outreach/education for the NIEHS Center in Environmental Toxicology at UTMB,
Galveston. He uses Theatre of the Oppressed to dialogue on environmental justice, risk, health effects of toxic
exposures and health disparities. He formerly directed Theatre Degree Zero (Tucson AZ), and Seattle Public
Theater‘s TO Wing.
Title: Exploring the Relationship between Drama Therapy and Educational Theatre
This presentation will focus on the results of a survey submitted to practitioners in the fields of drama therapy and
educational theatre. The objective is to explore the relationship between the two fields, especially in connection
to ethical practice and training within communities specific to each field. Ashworth and Butler will present their
findings related to the diversity of definitions of terms used in both fields, as well as descriptions of how each
field looks in practice. As the conference asks the question, ―How do we prepare future artists, educators and
health professionals to implement theatre for public health?,‖ they will describe the connections between training
for facilitators in both fields, as well as investigate the ethics of therapeutic work through the lens of artists,
educators and health professionals.
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For nearly fifteen years Julia Ashworth has worked extensively in the field of arts-in-education, both in Utah and
New York City, as a teacher, artist and administrator. She is currently an instructor at Brigham Young
University, where she teaches and supervises undergraduate students in a pre-service theatre teacher program.
Her work focuses on youth and family theatre and applied theatre practices.
Jason D. Butler, RDT/BCT, LCAT is a professor of creative arts therapy at Concordia University in Montreal
where his focus is on training drama therapists and exploring spontaneous forms of play within therapy. Prior to
teaching at Concordia, he directed a program for the homeless/mentally-ill in NYC and was on faculty at New
York University in the Program in Drama Therapy.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
SESSION 2: 9:00am-10:30am
Workshop Presentation
Group E – Education Building 879
Workshop
Title: Get Real: The Use of Drama in a Comprehensive Sexuality Education Curriculum
Get Real: Comprehensive Sex Education That Works is a middle and high school sexuality education curriculum
rooted in social and emotional learning and developed by Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts that
utilizes drama techniques to enhance student learning. Participants in this workshop will explore how the Get
Real curriculum successfully teaches students about healthy relationships, sexual decision making and refusal
skills through role-play and other theater techniques. This workshop is designed not only to introduce participants
to the Get Real curriculum, but also to enable them to explore innovative ways to incorporate drama into the
sexuality education classroom. Under the guidance of an expert facilitator, participants will play and experiment
with new ways to reach their adolescent youth. Discussion will follow about the success of Get Real and how it is
being evaluated and implemented in Massachusetts.
Shira Cahn-Lipman is an Educator and Professional Trainer at Planned Parenthood League of MA. Prior to her
job at PPLM she worked as a teacher in a Montessori classroom, a middle school teacher in a NYC public school,
a mental health specialist on an adolescent psychology unit and as the director of a number of extracurricular
theater programs in Boston and NY. Shira is a certified sexual health educator and k-12 theater educator. She has
a BA from Emerson College and a MEd from Lesley University.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
SESSION 3: 1:30pm-3:00pm
Performance Presentations
Group A – Frederick Loewe Theatre
Workshop
Title: Using Improv to Develop Communication & Collaboration Skills among Healthcare Professionals
With communication failure being the persistent leading root cause of medical errors and an ever-growing
awareness of pervasive horizontal and vertical abuse between doctors and nurses, the need to practice respectful
communication and optimal collaboration is crucial for optimal outcomes in patient care. Medical and nursing
education programs do not adequately address these problems. Many theatre games and activities are rich with
learning opportunities that help build crucial skills which healthcare professionals need to provide safe, effective,
patient-centered, timely, efficient and equitable care as well as rewarding career paths. When we shift focus away
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from the production and onto the process, improv becomes a goldmine for developing and practicing
assertiveness, self-awareness, risk-taking, respectful listening, leadership and much more. Boynton uses simple
theatre activities to integrate expertise in group dynamics, organizational behavior, communication, complex
adaptive systems and emotional intelligence to build these important relationship skills. Join her and colleagues
in applied theatre to practice simple improv activities and explore their relevance to public healthcare
professionals and systems.
Beth Boynton is a nurse consultant, national speaker & award winning author of the book; Confident Voices: the
Nurses’ Guide to Improving Communication & Creating Positive Workplaces. Her interactive workshops
combine elements of improv with expertise in group dynamics, emotional intelligence, organizational behavior,
communication, complex adaptive systems, and over 25 years practicing as a Registered Nurse. Her unique skill
set enables her to help healthcare professionals change behaviors that will lead to safer, more cost-effective, and
humane. More info at: www.bethboynton.com.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
SESSION 3: 1:30pm-3:00pm
Workshop Presentation
Group B – Education Building 303
Workshop
Title: Stepping Up: A Process Drama Exploring Shared Partner Responsibility for Condom Use
This workshop session will consist of a brief overview of the current role of theatre in sex education, followed by
an interactive process drama as an example of the ways in which process drama can be used to delve into
attitudes, beliefs, and peer norms around sexual behavior and condom use. Attendees will participate in an in-role
drama designed to use process drama activities to address attitudes about responsibility for condom use.
Following the interactive drama, participants will debrief and discuss the ways in which this work may be used
with youth to further public health goals regarding pregnancy and HIV prevention.
Sara M. Simons is a Ph.D. student in the Program in Educational Theatre at NYU, where one of her areas of
study is the use of theatre in sex education. Prior to coming to NYU, Sara worked doing sex education program
design and evaluation with Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
SESSION 3: 1:30pm-3:00pm
Paper Presentations
Group C – Education Building 306
Papers
Title: Theatrical Storytelling: Culturally Relevant Health Promotion to Decrease Health Disparities in
Organ Transplants within Native American Nations
Native Americans are disproportionately affected by health problems that potentially increase their need for organ
transplants. Organs donated by people of the same race have a better chance of success upon transplantation and
consequently organs donated by Native Americans are needed to help increase the survival of other Native
Americans awaiting transplant. The disproportionate numbers of Native Americans that need or will need a
transplant, combined with the historical shortage of Native Americans who donate organs depict the severity of
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this social problem. Since transplants are more effective when an organ is donated by the same (or similar) ethnic
or racial group, the need for increasing donation rates among Native Americans is critical. For many Native
American nations, storytelling is important aspect of intergenerational communication. This paper addresses
how theatrical storytelling can be used to build on the unique strengths of various Native American nations in
Oklahoma.
Satara Armstrong, Ph.D., MSW, serves as an Assistant Professor in the College of Liberal Arts at Northeastern
State University in Oklahoma. Armstrong‘s research interests involve health disparities in organ and tissue
donation, specifically for Native Americans. A passionate advocate for health equality, Armstrong is dedicated to
innovative approaches to health promotion.
Title: Community Theater to Improve Diabetes Education in the South Pacific
Many countries in the South Pacific are experiencing an epidemic of diabetes. Community Theatre (CT) has been
little used as a method of promoting public health in the region. Our objective is to introduce this novel method of
disseminating diabetes and public health information to people who have demonstrated a lack of interest in
traditional informational methods. While the initial community theater programs will begin with professional
actors, a key method to insuring a lasting impact on the target population is the use of community residents
themselves in key theatrical roles. The use of citizen actors increases community awareness and participation and
heightens the probability that the long-term effects of the theater will be positive and enduring. In this paper, we
describe the steps in planning, implementation, and evaluation of a CT project in rural Fiji with the notion of later
bringing the program to urban centers.
Philip Szmedra is an associate Professor of Economics in the School of Business Administration, Georgia
Southwestern State University. Prior to his current post, he was a senior lecturer in the Department of Economics,
University of the South Pacific, Suva, Fiji. His research work over the past fifteen years has dealt with public
health issues in the South Pacific including the health impacts of pesticide use on sugar farmers in Fiji, the
economic impacts of non-communicable disease in Fiji, Nauru, Kiribati, and Samoa, and improving Public Health
education in the region.
Title: Using Theater to Educate Audiences Regarding Female Genital Mutilation
After defining and describing female genital mutilation (FGM), also called female circumcision, this paper will
state the different ways and the different types of people who are educating the public about this controversial, but
painful and harmful, practice. Thompson will demonstrate why this topic is a worldwide concern. Some of the
types of people who are involved in spreading information are healthcare professionals, activists, actors, scholars,
writers (ex., Alice Walker), and fashion models. Careful training and on-going collaborations are necessary when
instructing individuals to be culturally sensitive to the needs of people on all sides of this issue. The training will
include lessons in anatomy, psychology, sociology and anthropology. The innovative strategies that have been
used, are being used, and can be used include street performances, role-playing, videos, films, and radio
educational entertainment. This paper will discuss several theatre companies and individuals in various cities in
the United States and other countries who have developed unique ways to combat FGM.
Diana R. Thompson is an educator, poet, and performer. She studied psychology, education and law at Barnard
College, Brooklyn College, and Fordham University, respectively. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild of
America, ASCAP and the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
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Saturday, April 23, 2011
SESSION 3: 1:30pm-3:00pm
Workshop Presentation
Group D – Education Building 307
Workshop
Title: Rehab, Roles, and Reality
The rich tradition of drama therapy, psychodrama, and sociodrama has been adapted to help clients through the
addiction recovery process with exceptional results. These approaches can expand one‘s sense of self beyond the
maladaptive role of the ―Addict‖ to reclaim neglected healthier aspects of the identity. Through drama therapy,
recovering clients have relearned how to play while sober and consequently reframe how to manage unstructured
leisure time. Through guided role-play improvisations, patients in Rehab become skilled at consequential
thinking and retraining their responses to dangerous triggers. Overtime, clients learn to treat Rehab as a rehearsal
for ―real life.‖ In this workshop, we will actively learn how to bring the power of the dramatic imagination into
every stage of the recovery process. Important rehabilitation concepts will be reviewed in addition to
demonstrating how particular techniques address issues of assessment, treatment, and termination.
Andrew Gaines is a Registered Drama Therapist and Licensed Creative Arts Therapist and has worked with
adults at Interfaith Medical Center for the last 5 years, in addition to his private practice. Graduate of NYU Tisch
(‘97) and Steinhardt (‘05), and teaches Video Drama Therapy to NYU students annually.
Darby Moore, MA, RDT, LCAT, is a graduate of NYU‘s Program in Drama Therapy and currently works at
Eastern Long Island Hospital‘s Quannacut Substance Abuse Program. She previously worked as a Substance
Abuse Prevention and Intervention Specialist for the New York City Dept. of Education.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
SESSION 3: 1:30pm-3:00pm
Workshop Presentation
Group E – Education Building 879
Workshop
Title: Improbable Players: Using Educational Drama in Addictions Prevention
"Gotta Act" is a role play workshop that uses theater to teach principles of substance abuse prevention by weaving
curriculum strands of health and theater education. The group will set the stage for thinking about how substance
abuse impacts us, our friends, our families and our community through things we hear about, see in the media,
observe, and read about. Participants will work in small groups to improvise scenes that illuminate the topic and
observe the effects of substance abuse on characters, action, conflict, and resolution. Participants will learn
curriculum mapping and leave with the beginning of their own arts-in-prevention portfolio and new ideas to use to
lead groups. Improbable Players‘ how-to guide for using drama in prevention education will be available.
Lynn Bratley is Artistic Director of Improbable Players, a theater company she founded in 1984. She earned
her BA in Drama from University of Washington and her MEd in Theater Education from Tufts University. She
develops new programs about substance abuse prevention with actors who are, like Lynn, people in recovery.
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Saturday, April 23, 2011
SESSION 4: 3:15pm-4:45pm
Performance Presentations
Group A – Frederick Loewe Theatre
Performances
Title: Strange Bare Facts
Strange Bare Facts is a play about a lesser-known figure in the history of public health and epidemiology in 20 th
century England. J. Alison Glover was a soldier in the Boer War, a doctor on the front in World War I and was
instrumental in keeping soldiers from catching disease. His early dedication to understanding health care variation
through his study of tonsillectomies was groundbreaking and is still cited today. The play draws from both
contemporary and historical episodes in its exploration of Glover‘s life and its legacy. Strange Bare Facts
educates and entertains its audience by telling the story of a man with a very contemporary perspective who hoped
to change the way medicine was provided to patients, facing adversity, war and critics. An inspiring story for
health care practitioners and anyone interested in how we can treat patients more effectively and more
productively.
Kate Mulley graduated from Dartmouth College in 2005 with a degree in Theatre and History and received an
MA in Writing for Performance at Goldsmiths College, London in 2007. She is the Literary Manager of NyLon
Fusion Collective and a Resident Playwright for Odyssey Productions. Her plays have been performed in New
York, London and Washington DC.
Title: Ableism
Ableism is a movement theatre piece exploring the alienation and the search-for-self experienced by women living
with Multiple Sclerosis. Through the lens of two women dealing with their families, institutional challenges, and
their relationships to their own bodies, Schirmer and Hall will explore issues of ableism by challenging the
audience‘s notions of what constitutes movement, and what makes a person ―whole‖. As performers they explore
a range of movements that are both free and restricted, informed by the evolution of restrictions that are
experienced by women‘s bodies living with Multiple Sclerosis: the stiffening of muscles, exhaustion, isolated
areas of paralysis, etc. Different qualities of movement will be explored as metaphors to the relationship with the
disease itself, framed on a larger scale through music, poetic text and video projection. Following the performance
we will engage the audience in an interactive talkback, negotiating our collective complicities with those we treat
as invisible in the eyes of dominant ideas of a ―healthy‖ and ―whole‖ society.
Maria Schirmer is a Master‘s student at NYU-Gallatin where she is combining the study of theatre, education,
and activism into a thesis exploring theatre as a tool for social change. Maria is involved in creative and
administrative duties of the political theatre company Stone Soup and is a member of the Lark Play Development
Center. She currently works as a project assistant at the Hemispheric Institute for Performance and Politics.
Koby Rogers Hall is the founding artistic director of Mischief Theatre, a performance collective dedicated to
redefining the audience/performer dynamic through site-specific and interactive performance events. Koby is
currently directing and co-devising Abby Paige‘s Piecework: When We Were French and developing Mischief
Theatre‘s Dialogues Project with artists based in New York City and Masaka, Uganda. She is an MA candidate in
Art and Public Policy at NYU.
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Saturday, April 23, 2011
SESSION 5: 3:15pm-4:45pm
Workshop Presentation
Group B – Education Building 303
Workshop
Title: Step onto the Educational Stage
Collaboration, creativity, and interpersonal mutuality are all intrinsic to drama and theater. Education and health
care have made smaller steps away from a hierarchical paradigm. Roles are often narrowly defined:
doctor/patient, teacher/student, and provider/consumer. The patient or student remains the passive recipient of
services or information. A ―culture of enactment‖ needs to be created where co-responsibility is the guiding
principle. Spontaneity Theater offers a multi-faceted, safe, and interactive approach to developing this culture.
Living Newspaper provides an opportunity to co-create enactments, take on and develop roles, try out different
perspectives, and reflect on practice while exploring vital health care issues. Participants will experience the
Living Newspaper method, gain understanding of the warm-up/action/sharing process, and discuss concerns
related to spontaneity methods.
A social worker and Norwegian by birth, Elisabeth Ameln MSS, has spent the last 20 years creating plays and
non-scripted theater experiences together with people with and without developmental disabilities in a variety of
educational and health care settings.
Roy Ford, MEd, RN, has a 30 year career which weaves theory, practice, and art and moves between education,
therapy, and health care. Psychodrama, sociodrama, and sociometry permeate all of his work in professional
training and development, psychiatric and emergency nursing, adult special education, chemical dependency
counseling, group therapy, Playback Theatre, writing, and social therapy.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
SESSION 5: 3:15pm-4:45pm
Paper Presentations
Group C – Education Building 306
Papers
Title: Taking Dramatic License: A Theatrical Approach to Enhancing Cultural Competence in Health
Professions
This paper will document the background, initial stages and projected outcomes of an ongoing research project in
Sheffield, UK, utilizing Forum Theatre techniques to improve the cultural competencies of healthcare
professionals. One of the conclusions drawn from an earlier Economic and Social Research Council UK funded
project found that increasing the cultural competency of healthcare professionals was a priority in addressing
inequalities in health outcomes. This research team then approached theatre academics and practitioners at
Sheffield Hallam University to help design, implement and evaluate a follow-on project adapting Forum Theatre
interventions to increase the cultural competency of healthcare workers in Sheffield. This paper will consider the
rationale, potential and challenges involved in using a theatrical approach to health research in this context and
will interrogate the concept of ―cultural competence‖ in terms of its usefulness in the intersections between theatre
and health education.
30
Maureen Barry is Principal Lecturer & Group Leader for Stage & Screen Studies in the Humanities department
at Sheffield Hallam University. She has an extensive background in using theatre in social contexts with:
community activists; prisoners/staff in penal settings; patients/staff in health environments and has directed many
touring Theatre-in-Education projects.
Title: Performing Health in a Canadian Context
On the academic stage, over the past decade, Canadian health researchers are increasingly using drama as a
methodology for health research dissemination on topics including cancer, schizophrenia and Alzheimer‘s
disease. This paper will examine why drama is being increasingly used for research dissemination and why drama
continues to have a presence in health education and training. Furthermore, this paper will explore innovative
strategies for integrating drama within health education, focusing on the experience of the health science student.
Jafine will illustrate the didactic benefits of performative practices within health science based curriculums by
using a case study from his own research of developing two drama-based courses in the Bachelor of Health
Science (BSHc) program at McMaster University, Canada. Running from 2007 to the present, the courses provide
undergraduate BHSc students with an innovative arts based approach to their pedagogy that fosters creativity,
play and contributes to their well-being and personal health.
Hartley Jafine is currently an instructor, facilitating drama and arts based courses, in the Bachelor of Health
Sciences (Honours) program at McMaster University while concurrently working on a Ph.D. in the Faculty of
Education at York University.
Title: Every Body has a Story: How Fat is experienced by Women exploring their Body Narratives through
Theatre for Change
The study on which this paper is based explored the ways in which the participants understood and responded to
their bodies, by examining the relationship between internal and external oppression. Through the combined use
of Augusto Boal‘s theoretical notions of Theatre of the Oppressed and Rainbow of Desire, this study investigated
the experience of being overweight. The two primary strategies used in this study were Image Theatre and
Newspaper Theatre. Personal narratives as well as current events were used within the utilized strategies. This
study shows how theatre is useful in the field of obesity to understand both the physical and emotional aspects of
being overweight.
Teresa A. Fisher is a Doctoral candidate in the Program in Educational Theatre at NYU. A former mental health
counselor and play therapist, Teresa‘s interest is in using theatre to explore how we understand our bodies,
focusing on fat bodies. She is an educator, theatre artist and administrator.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
SESSION 5: 3:15pm-4:45pm
Narrative Presentations
Group D – Education Building 307
Narratives
Title: Storytelling, Drama, and Mindfulness in Psychosocial Interventions for Children and Guardians
affected by HIV/AIDS
Over the past 5 years, Clowns Without Borders South Africa (CWBSA) has developed an innovative strategy to
address the psychosocial needs of communities affected by HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa. Through drama,
storytelling, traditional performance, and Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction, CWBSA implements arts
31
interventions for AIDS-affected children and guardians. This program uses performance and arts education in
school and community settings for affected populations to help develop mechanisms for emotional recovery and
resilience. This presentation will highlight CWBSA‘s programmatic evolution from brief arts interventions to
more locally sustainable methodologies in rural communities affected by HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa. It will
shed light on the innovative practices that combine disciplines in order to have a holistic community-centered
impact that is rooted in the cultural context of our beneficiaries. Finally, this paper will discuss challenges in
maintaining local capacity as well as contextualizing it in evidence-based public health research and practice.
Jamie McLaren Lachman is a storyteller, clown, actor, musician, poet, director, researcher, and facilitator. As
the founder and director of Clowns Without Borders South Africa (www.cwbsa.org), a humanitarian organization
that provides psychosocial support to communities affected by crisis, he has worked throughout the world. His
work involves storytelling, play, drama, and mindfulness based stress reduction to awaken a sense of emotional
wellbeing in the lives children and their guardians affected by HIV/AIDS, violence, and poverty. Jamie is a
graduate of Yale University and the Dell‘Arte International School for Physical Theatre. He is currently studying
for an MSc in Evidence Based Social Intervention at the University of Oxford investigating the role of theatre and
mindfulness in social interventions impacting child/caregiver relationships in communities affected by
HIV/AIDS.
Title: HIV, AIDs, ME, and YOU!
For the past 10 years, HIV/AIDS has affected multiple communities, from the loss of lives of friends and loved
ones who have succumbed to illnesses, to other consequences created by the ignorance and misunderstandings of
this epidemic. In this regard, Williams and Sicre have directed plays that explore HIV/AIDS within communities
from two very different perspectives: Positive by Trevor Rhone set in Kingston, Jamaica, and Living On by Lois
P. Roach set in North Miami Beach, FL. Both plays have received critical acclaim and awards, and opened up
dialogue in communities where AIDS and HIV are still taboo. The plays have been used as educational vehicles
for youth, presented in theatres, schools, festivals and other spaces of learning and entertainment. Williams and
Sicre have created talkback sessions, and brought in HIV survivors to share with actors and audience members.
Through the sharing of experiences and narratives, they will address the ethical questions with which they
struggled during the work process, and discuss how they were able to collaborate with Public Health education
programs.
Daphnie Sicre holds a BA in Journalism, History & Theatre from Lehigh University, MA in The Teaching of
Social Studies from Teachers College, Columbia University, and an MA in Educational Theatre from New York
University. Formerly a Swortzell Scholar, she is a Ph.D. candidate, an adjunct faculty member at NYU and a
teaching artist for George Street Playhouse.
Karl O’Brian Williams holds a Master‘s degree in Educational Theatre from NYU. He's an actor, playwright
and director whose work interrogates socio-political issues, especially those affecting youth. Williams‘ passion
for theatre and education has propelled his work with students of all ages and abilities. He is currently an adjunct
professor at the Borough of Manhattan Community College and a Site Director at Wingspan Arts.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
SESSION 5: 3:15pm-4:45pm
Workshop Presentation
Group E – Education Building 879
Workshop
Title: Beyond the Role Play: Incorporating Theatre Techniques into Sexual Health Education
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This narrative workshop seeks to equip community artists, activists, and educators with the tools necessary to
incorporate theatre techniques into their practice and teach around topics in sexual health and sexuality. Led by a
seasoned and dynamic teaching artist and community health educator whose work includes teaching in settings
from preschool to prison, this workshop aims to expand the usage of theatre in sexual health education by looking
beyond the ―student as actor‖ role predominant in sexual health education. Participants will experience a variety
of activities (from classroom handouts to Theatre of the Oppressed techniques) that explore sexual health topics
through the utilization of playwriting, set design, and directing techniques. This interactive workshop explores
broader use of theatre in order to develop critical thinking skills as a means of making sexual health curriculum
more personally relevant to students.
Kate Wand is a teaching artist whose passion lies in the intersection between art and education. A graduate of
Hampshire College and Emerson College, Kate‘s former work includes director of SPEAK Out!, LGBTQA youth
theatre troupe, a community health educator at Planned Parenthood (PPABC). Currently, Kate teaches high school
theatre in the Brooklyn neighborhood of East New York.
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M USIC AND P ERFO RM ING AR TS PRO FE S SION S
P rog ram in Educational Theatre
SAVE THE DATE!
The Milk Dragon by Suzan Zeder, June, 2007, New Plays for Young Audiences
Photo courtesy of Chianan Yen
Join NYU-Ed Theatre
April 27-29, 2012
for our
Forum on Theatre for Young Audiences
Further information from Robert Stevenson at [email protected].
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Upcoming Events
New Plays for Young Audiences
14th Annual Reading Series
Provincetown Playhouse
David Montgomery, Artistic Director
Walking Toward America
By Sandra Fenichel Asher
Directed by David Montgomery
June 11-12, 2011
Echo and Dorian
By Diane Samuels
Directed by Deirdre Kelly Lavrakas
June 18-19, 2011
The Three Little Wolves
By Larry Brenner
Directed by David Kilpatrick
June 25-26, 2011
The Winter’s Tale
Looking for Shakespeare
Black Box Theatre
Directed by Dr. David Montgomery
July 22-24, 2011
For more information, check out our website at
http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/music/edtheatre
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NYU STEINHARDT MUSIC AND PERFORMING ARTS PROFESSIONS
NYU Steinhardt‘s Department of Music and Performing Arts Professions was established
in 1925. Since that time, Steinhardt Music and Performing Arts Professions has
functioned as NYU's "school" of music and developed into a major research and practice
center in music technology, music business, music composition, film scoring, music
performance practices, performing arts therapies, and the performing arts-in-education
(music, dance, and drama). Today, 1,600 students majoring in renowned music and
performing arts programs are guided by 400 faculty. Our degree programs—
baccalaureate through Ph.D.—share the Steinhardt School‘s spirit of openness and
innovation that encourages the pursuit of high artistic and academic goals. Our rich and
varied expertise and interests bring performance majors and composers together with
choreographers, directors, actors, dancers, educators, librettists, and filmmakers in
collaborative projects often reviewed by the New York media. Faculty sit on leading
journal editorial boards and publish some of the most significant performing arts research
on the scene today. Our Department and the Steinhardt School offer an unparalleled
environment for artistic, professional, and scholarly challenge and growth.
NYU‘s Program in Educational Theatre has developed partnerships with some of the
most recognized educational teams and theatres in the world. Our students have the
opportunity to do internships year round for course credit and practical experience. They
have worked in a wide variety of positions ranging from assistant education directors to
teaching artists to production assistants. Some of the many companies we have developed
partnerships with are The New Victory Theatre, The Manhattan Theatre Club, The City
Light‘s Youth Theatre, The Lark Theatre, The Roundabout Theatre Company, and The
Abbey Theatre in Dublin, Ireland.
We recognize that in addition to substantial training in individual specializations, our
graduates require multiple skills and broad experiences to pursue a successful and
fulfilling career. We encourage students to take courses and to interact with faculty across
traditional programmatic and Steinhardt School lines. In addition to these multiple
university synergies, our campus is surrounded by and blends into the world‘s capital and
center of the performing arts, New York City. This location enables us to draw upon the
greatest artists in the world and allows our students to build networks and take advantage
of abundant professional opportunities. Alumni have moved on to major professional
careers and have secured coveted faculty and administrative positions in colleges,
conservatories, and universities throughout the world. Prominent graduates include Tony
Award, Oscar and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and screenwriter John Patrick
Shanley.
Lawrence Ferrara, Director
40